Doing things the hard way is worth it.

Our 4th graders explore math, mechanics, physics, and history through the use of hand tools like this hand drill.

In our tech-driven world, escapism has become the norm. Children are engaging in real life less, distracted by screens, and demonstrating a low tolerance for inconvenience. Waldorf Education believes that doing things the “hard” way results in better focus, more creativity, higher academic achievement, and better mental health. By staying off screens, resolving conflict in person, writing essays in cursive, knitting a hat, doing multi-sensory science experiments, going outdoors in all weather, learning an instrument, and more, we help students push through discomfort to become engaged, enthusiastic, and resilient learners.

Whole-to-part learning: prioritizing experience over fact-cramming

Spinning wool on a drop spindle: part of our “sheep-to-shawl” curriculum for 3rd grade, which incorporates caring for our sheep (farm class), fiber arts (handwork class), weaving (math class) , and human culture (social studies and history).

The Waldorf teaching method uses “whole to part” learning: children first have an entire experience of physics, or of a mathematical concept, or of an historical moment… then, guided by the teacher to make keen observations and ask continually-deepening questions, they arrive together, as a group, at the foundational elements of grammatical rules, or geometric proofs, or cause-and-effect. The process is “slower”—it looks faster to cram facts from a book into young heads—but more meaningful and lasting.

Every year, our 6th graders are escorted, instructed to keep complete silence, into the darkest windowless space in our building, where their physics teacher can control the gradual introduction of pinpricks of light. The students are then asked to observe only EXACTLY what they see as the light returns: not “Sasha’s blue sweater,” but maybe “a grey, curved shape with a fuzzy outline.” As the light grows, students experience what they’ll later learn back in the classroom to diagram and label as rods and cones, retina, wavelengths, and a color wheel. This exercise in deliberate and factual observation trains future scientists to see not just what they’ve heard they should see, or think they should see, but what they haven’t yet known they could see. In all our students, it encourages attention, honesty, and humility when one realizes one has to let go of preconceived notions when looking out into the world!

This style of learning is based on Aristotle’s classic concept that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Having the full sensory experience first makes the learning fuller, richer, less dry, more exciting, more relatable, and easier to remember for years afterwords.

“Heavy Work” for preschoolers

Our preschool and kindergarten students use real hammers, real metal shovels in their sandbox, and a real log-splitter and mallet for the firepit on their playground. Children who touch real objects, do heavy work, and complete meaningful tasks build grit, resilience, confidence, and the desire to work hard at the next challenges that come their way. This is the development of true work ethic, which, over the course of 8-12 years at Ithaca Waldorf School, produces high schoolers who love to learn, work hard, help others, and achieve their goals.

Engaging in “heavy work” is also critical for neurological development, correct join and limb formation, balance and gross motor skills, and emotional well-being.

An education with elements so seemingly “old-fashioned”, that
brain science says it’s progressive again

Cursive-writing, for connecting brain hemispheres, improved spelling and literary fluency, training attention and care for our work, organizing thoughts on a page, and making our work beautiful.

Our 3rd grader teacher: “We’ve been cooking all year, which is great for kids to learn real-world skills, and where food comes from, and give them the confidence that they can make things themselves, and the responsibility of using real knives… but then when I teach fractions on the chalkboard, all the kids say, ‘oh we already know this, from cooking!’”

When children are given the opportunity to step away from modern conveniences and learn how things work and how they can make or do them themselves, their understanding and confidence grows exponentially. Most importantly, their natural curiosity and responsibility for their own learning is ignited.

Using chalkboards instead of smart boards, and cursive writing instead of typing, slows down education again to a human scale, to a child’s speed. Just as you’d let a toddler explore a puddle for as long as he wishes, reveling in his glee that outlasts a grown-up’s patience, we keep school child-centered in how we teach. Our 8th grade graduates still recall things they learned in 2nd grade, and bring joy, confidence, and a thirst for my learning into their high school experience.

Cooking shows up in every subject: a stone soup experience of community building in preschool; flan in Spanish class; maple syrup from our own trees in farm class; experimenting with leaveners and sweeteners in chemistry; a regional dish choosen for each student’s “States” project in 5th grade geography.

A balanced education: clarity of thought, warmth of heart, strength of purpose

It is our job as educators to support the natural unfolding and development of childhood, to result in young adults who are confident, compassionate, and capable. We challenge their minds to become critical, flexible, and inventive; their feelings to become deeply aware, empathetic, and self-motivating; and their bodies to be able to transform their good ideas into meaningful work that changes the world.